So last night I finished reading The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P, and of course I immediately wanted to read more by Adelle Waldman. The New Yorker published a great essay of hers about the problem of female beauty. Here's one good bit that's relevant to the barometer that's calibrated to "dude":

"Beauty is often treated as an essentially feminine subject, something trivial and frivolous that women are excessively concerned with. Men, meanwhile, are typically seen as having a straightforward and uncomplicated relationship with it: they are drawn to it. The implication is that this may be unfortunate—not exactly ideal morally—but it can’t be helped, because it’s natural, biological. This seems more than a little ironic. Women are not only subject to a constant and exhausting and sometimes humiliating scrutiny—they are also belittled for caring about their beauty, mocked for seeking to enhance or to hold onto their good looks, while men are just, well, being men."

And here's the whole article:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/10/a-first-rate-girl-the-problem-of-female-beauty.html